Author: Staff Nippon

“Milwaukee Independent” sat down with the Mayor of Zushi, Satoru Kirigaya, in Kanagawa Prefecture on March 14, 2024. The meeting came during a special assignment that reported on the 13th anniversary of the 3.11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. The original plan for the special 3.11 Exploring Fukushima assignment included a package about the New Year’s Day earthquake that struck the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture a few weeks earlier on January 1, 2024. Because of his personal connection to Noto and experiences from Fukushima, Mayor Kirigaya was interviewed as a bridge that combined the narrative between the two...

By Alessandro Poletto, Lecturer in East Asian Religions, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis 3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that remain affected by the disaster across the Tōhoku region. mkeind.com/exploringfukushima “The Tale of Genji,” often called Japan’s first novel, was written 1,000 years ago. Yet it still occupies a powerful place in the Japanese imagination. A popular TV drama, “Dear Radiance” (“Hikaru kimi...

By Paul S. Atkins, Professor of Japanese, University of Washington 3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that remain affected by the disaster across the Tōhoku region. mkeind.com/exploringfukushima On a recent visit to New York I stopped at a Japanese bookstore in Manhattan. Among the English-language books about Japan, I encountered a section of a shelf marked “WABI-SABI” and stocked with titles such as “Wabi Sabi Love,” “The...

3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that remain affected by the disaster across the Tōhoku region. mkeind.com/exploringfukushima The Pritzker Architecture Prize was awarded to Japan’s Riken Yamamoto in March, who earned the field’s highest honor for what organizers described as a long career focused on “multiplying opportunities for people to meet spontaneously, through precise, rational design strategies.” Yamamoto, 78, has spent a five-decade career designing both private...

3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that remain affected by the disaster across the Tōhoku region. mkeind.com/exploringfukushima When the FX network sent screenwriter Justin Marks a copy of James Clavell’s hit 1975 novel “Shōgun” with the idea of turning it into a series, he initially could not put it down. That was because he was reluctant to pick it up. The book about a British navigator shipwrecked...

3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that remain affected by the disaster across the Tōhoku region. mkeind.com/exploringfukushima The 2024 Oscars showcased the creativity and storytelling skill of Japanese cinema, with unprecedented wins for two of its most iconic figures: Hayao Miyazaki and the legendary kaiju, Godzilla. Hayao Miyazaki won for helming the best animated film “The Boy and the Heron,” the long-awaited fantasy from the director of...